Photography: Portfolio advice for applicants

It’s important to lay out your portfolio in a way that is comfortable for you to present with.

You may well come from an art and design background and think that you may not have enough photographic images, but you have paintings or drawings that you think highlight your creativity. We also want to see those.

You might be interested in making books or you love the darkroom. We'd love to see the actual prints.

Only include work that you are happy to present. Don’t feel you have to show work you are unhappy with, just because a tutor told you to include it.

It’s exciting when someone wants to show us work in progress or something that they feel they've just landed on as an idea, but they think there's still more they can explore with it.

You can also include sketchbooks, which just help us to look through your idea generation and think about how you think about ideas for project work.

We usually ask for a portfolio of 10 to 15 images, and that could be in an A3 portfolio. If there's a way to, streamline what you have.

Be selective.  It’s good practice for you to be able to edit to what you think are the best images, rather than showing all of them.

Yes. If you have large pieces, you might digitise those and show them in a slightly smaller scale. A digital portfolio might also be easier for you to bring to the review.

You might have also produced a website, or you may have a PowerPoint that celebrates your practice. And we're happy to see your work in any of those formats.

There’s no set way to lay out your portfolio.

Try to make your life easy.  If you've got multiple different media or different scales of prints that are all together in a big container,  it could be stressful to sort through and show us everything.  Assemble your portfolio in a way you'll feel comfortable to present to us.

Try not to be nervous. It’s a conversation, not an interview. We're looking forward to meeting you and talking about your ideas and photography in general. 

We want to know what makes you tick and what kind of photography excites you. 

Also, sit and think a little about your relationship with photography before you come. Perhaps dip back into some of the photographers that have inspired you.  Perhaps think back to an exhibition you've been to, a photo book you've looked at, or a film you've watched, and just recollect what the things were in that artist's work that really make you aspire to make great work. 

It doesn't matter whether you know the area of photography that you want to go into when you leave university. We will help you make that choice once you are here.